Match Preview: Brentford B v AFC Bournemouth U23

Brentford B take on AFC Bournemouth U23 at Griffin Park tonight, Tuesday 21 August, in a 7pm kick-off. There's free entry in the Braemar Road Stand and supporters are welcome from 6pm, when gates open.

The Opposition

The Bournemouth youth squads have opted out of playing in a league system this season, after spending the 2017/18 campaign in The Central League. This season, like Brentford B, they will organise their own fixtures and play against teams in other countries.

Bournemouth Under-18s already followed this structure towards the end of last season, flying out to Italy for games against AC Milan and Sampdoria Under-19 squads during March.

There are two cup competitions that The Cherries' Under-21s will play in this term; The Hampshire Senior Cup and the Premier League Cup. Last season saw the side advance all the way to the Last-16 of the latter competition, losing out to Newcastle 3-2 in mid-March.

This campaign will see them face Liverpool, West Bromwich Albion and Burnley in Group C of the opening round. The top two teams from each of the four groups advance to the knockout stages.

Brentford B have played this squad twice, in August and November 2017. The first game ended in a 2-0 win for Brentford B, Herson Rodrigues Alves and Justin Shaibu scoring for The Bees. The second match was a 3-0 defeat for O'Connor's side; Connor Mahoney, Mikael Ndjoli and Sam Sherring on the scoresheet.

Opposition Boss

Former Cherries player and Wales international Carl Fletcher is the Head Coach of AFC Bournemouth's youth squad.

Fletcher, 38, was a midfielder throughout his career and made over 400 apperarances in league football. The majority of his time was split between Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Plymouth Argyle.

In 2012, Fletcher retired from the game to focus on coaching but made a brief reappearance as a player for Barnet in the 2013/14 season. He has been part of the staff on the south coast since January 2014.

Brentford B

The Bees lost their opening game of the regular season, making this an important clash in front of a home crowd for Kevin O'Connor's men. Last time out they lost to a Luton Town side made up of First Team players who swept The Bees aside 4-0.

Prior to that, Brentford B's pre-season campaign saw them lose 2-1 to Southampton at Jersey Road. The two previous fixtures had been narrow 1-0 defeats to both Oxford United and West Bromwich Albion. The Baggies deployed Gareth Barry, Sam Johnstone and Nigel Reo-Coker but only managed a single-goal victory in the West Midlands.

For this match, the B team will still be without Henrik Johansson and Jan Zamburek. Swedish winger Henrik is still out injured, while Czech midfielder Jan is away with an international training camp.

Pre-Match Feature

We spoke to B Team Head Coach Kevin O'Connor last week about the upcoming game and what it means to play at Griffin Park under the lights.

Match Coverage

There is no live stream for this game, but full match highlights will be available after the game on the Club's YouTube Channel. Live updates will be available via Twitter (@brentfordfc) and behind the scenes coverage can be found on Brentford B's dedicated Instagram Channel @brentfordbteam.

Match Report: Brentford B 2 AFC Bournemouth U23 1

Marcus Forss scored one and set up another as Brentford B earned their first win of the 2018/19 campaign.

The Bees played some slick football during their first Griffin Park showcase, taking the game to their higher-division opponents.

Kevin O’Connor opted for a 4-3-3 formation with Moses Odubajo making his Griffin Park return at right-back. Fellow First Teamers Tom Field, Chiedozie Ogbene, Forss and Reece Cole were named amongst the XI.

Marc Pugh, Tyrone Mings, Diego Rico and Jefferson Lerma – who recently joined Bournemouth for a club-record £25m fee from Spanish side Levante – all started for The Cherries.

It was the hosts who worked the first opening of the game on four minutes. Ogbene cut in from the left and played a piercing ball through to David Titov, with his cutback scuffed across the face of goal by the advancing Cole.

Cole had a trio of chances during Brentford’s next phase of attacking play, the pick of the bunch a 30-yard drive which forced Mark Travers into a smart save to his right. Moments later, Lerma's loose touch was pounced upon by Marcus Forss. He slid in Cole, but the midfielder drilled his shot wide from 15 yards.

Cole continued to pull the strings in his deep-lying playmaker role and his quick thinking was instrumental to Brentford’s next chance on goal. Following a foul on captain, Ali Coote, Cole’s quick free-kick released Titov down the right. The winger got his head up and picked out Forss, but the First-Team forward skewed his effort wide of the upright.

Bournemouth should have taken the lead on the half-hour mark. Pugh burst into the area and cut on to his right foot, selling Jarvis Edobor with the dummy, but couldn’t beat the sprawling Patrik Gunnarsson from close range.

That chance spurred the visitors into life with Diego Rico narrowly clearing the crossbar moments later. Brentford went straight up the other end and threatened through Forss, the referee deciding to play advantage after Coote had been hauled down in The Cherries’ area. Both sides had taken the shackles off by this point following a measured opening to the encounter.

Forss nearly caught out Travers with a ferocious shot shortly before the interval but the Bournemouth ‘keeper dealt with the danger.

The Bees took the lead two minutes after the restart. Cole collected the ball in midfield, turned on a sixpence and lofted the ball over the last line of defence. Forss read the pass and jinked his way past a couple of challenges before slotting into the bottom corner. Travers with no chance.

Jack Simpson nodded narrowly wide of the target up the other end as Bournemouth went in search of an equaliser.

Cole had been a thorn in Bournemouth’s side and his last contribution was to double Brentford’s lead. It was roles reversed on this occasion as Forss forced a mistake from Travers and then selflessly squared for Cole to drill home from close range. Cole was then withdrawn with Nikolaj Kirk taking on his responsibilities in the middle of the park.

Jaidon Anthony pulled one back for Bournemouth 20 minutes from time, steering into the bottom corner from a Marc Pugh cutback.

Chances came and went during the closing stages – Bees substitutes Kolbeinn Finnsson and a trialist going closest with low efforts across the face of goal – but the scoreline remained 2-1.